Great Britain's not-so-great national metaphor

I groan loudly whenever I hear a politician or wannabe dame or knight likening themselves and their minions to those Britons and British subjects who fought in the Second World War.

Only today I heard some medical testing laboratory administrator comparing his employees to "the fighters and fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain".

This sort of thing is not only tedious but also manipulative. If there is one certain way to make me disregard a person's judgement and capabilities it is their fapping away to this gasping, creaking, leaky metaphor.

I groan loudly whenever I hear a politician or wannabe dame or knight likening themselves and their minions to those Britons and British subjects who fought in the Second World War.

Only today I heard some medical testing laboratory administrator comparing his employees to "the fighters and fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain".

This sort of thing is not only tedious but also manipulative. If there is one certain way to make me disregard a person's judgement and capabilities it is their fapping away to this gasping, creaking, leaky metaphor.

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Well, you have to admit this virus is something we haven't seen in modern times and a lot of people are putting themselves forward to help others, like our NHS staff. I never dreamed that I would see something that has pretty much stopped this world from functioning as we know it.

I think it can be legitimately applied to doctors and nurses who are dealing with CV sufferers on the front line, they are literally risking their lives to save the rest of us and are the group who are most likely to contract CV at the moment.

I hope they get some kind of "campaign medal" in recognition of their courage, risk and for stepping up when they were needed.

Other groups, police, shop workers who are serving customers face-to-face, similarly but less so. Though I agree the comparison can be overblown.

I think it can be legitimately applied to doctors and nurses who are dealing with CV sufferers on the front line, they are literally risking their lives to save the rest of us and are the group who are most likely to contract CV at the moment.

I hope they get some kind of "campaign medal" in recognition of their courage, risk and for stepping up when they were needed.

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I've been wearing this image on my lanyard.

It's amazing how they all clap now when I get to the supermarket, tell me to jump the queue and offer to pay for my shopping.

"Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of the Francis Crick research institute - which will soon be able to conduct 500 Covid-19 tests a day - said a Dunkirk-style effort was needed to co-ordinate smaller laboratories and increase test numbers.

"We are a lot of little boats and the little boats can be effective," he said, referring to the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of the French city during World War Two.

He added: "The government has put some big boats, destroyers in place. That's a bit more cumbersome to get working and we wish them all the luck to do that, but we little boats can contribute as well.""

"Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of the Francis Crick research institute - which will soon be able to conduct 500 Covid-19 tests a day - said a Dunkirk-style effort was needed to co-ordinate smaller laboratories and increase test numbers.

"We are a lot of little boats and the little boats can be effective," he said, referring to the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of the French city during World War Two.

He added: "The government has put some big boats, destroyers in place. That's a bit more cumbersome to get working and we wish them all the luck to do that, but we little boats can contribute as well.""

Hmm.. Dunkirk was a desperate, last gasp attempt to save the army from an ignominious defeat which might well have forced us to sue for peace. Notwithstanding the incredible bravery of many - military, naval and civilian - it would have all been for nought had the Germans not have backed off (possibly to allow Goering's Luftwaffe claim the victory instead of the army & their tanks).

Whilst the little ships metaphor is a valid way of evoking everyday people pulling together in a national crisis, we conveniently overlook the fact that Dunkirk was a retreat, and a complete military rout, partly brought about by lack of forward planning in the preceding years. Had the weather over the Channel been just a bit worse the evacuation would have failed and it would have been a very different outcome. We also forget that British troops were being evacuated from France (or abandoned there) for up to a month after Dunkirk, sometimes with disasterous results, as in the case of the SS Lancastria which was our worst ever loss of life on a single vessel. Churchill imposed a news blackout on the story to preserve public morale, so little is known about it.

Well the cat’s out of the bag. We can’t make a mountain out of a molehill this time; this IS a mountain. Life is not a fashion show. We all must pay the piper for this tune. We must listen to the pearls of wisdom spoken by our leaders, though they sometimes sound as daft as a bag of hammers.We now face a fearsome enemy that we cannot see or touch. Let us join together like rats on a ship. Oh wait, that’s a bad simile. Well, I think you get my point.